Ubuntu 18 black screen (no login) and Grub changed to turquoise Debian 8

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When I could boot and still login to see the screen, in terminal I did:

sudo update-alternatives --config python3, and got There is only one alternative in link group python3 (providing /usr/bin/python3): /usr/bin/python3.6

I was trying to change my default system python to python 3 by adding an alias to .bashrc but that led to a problem where I could no longer get a terminal so I uninstalled python 3 and installed a python3-minimal something or another as that was provided as a fix on some sites which worked.

But foolishly I followed some other advice to purge orca something or another after which I did an install orca to hopefully reverse anything I had done.

But now after I shut down and boot up, I get a turquoise color Debian 8 grub 2.02 screen instead of my familiar black Ubuntu screen for grub where I select among my double boot (Windows 10, 7 and Ubuntu 18).

After which if I choose Ubuntu, I just get a black screen. No login prompt. I can Ctrl-Alt-F2 for the shell but have no idea what to do.

So, I am in the process of creating a bootable USB Ubuntu 18 and am going to try running boot repair on it. Maybe I'll get my old black Grub back? If anyone has had similar issues or knows what's up, please let me know.

mLstudent33

Posted 2019-08-17T11:05:01.550

Reputation: 130

1The pre-boot logo is stored in /boot/grub and would just need to be restored to use the ubuntu logo. That your first terminal is never giving a logon prompt indicates that either systemd has jobs that it can't complete (or fail) or that getty isn't being launched for tty1. My worry is that there is more damage done to the system in addition to these issues. – Cliff Armstrong – 2019-08-17T17:27:07.677

@CliffArmstrong, should I just try to salvage files now and prepare for a clean re-installation of the OS? This makes me rethink not taking an OS course. – mLstudent33 – 2019-08-17T17:29:49.933

1I'm not certain. Doing so will, of course, definitely solve your problems. The issues you mention should be solvable without such measures though. I think the deciding factor there is whether or not you wish to continue troubleshooting the exact nature of the failed tty1 and fix these issues manually with the potential of there being more issues to discover afterwards. – Cliff Armstrong – 2019-08-17T17:35:39.840

@CliffArmstrong thanks for a frank diagnosis. I'll dig a little bit but if it looks like quicksand, I'm going to bail. Just hope I can cp folder to destination ie. an external hard drive sitting in the DVD player slot. – mLstudent33 – 2019-08-17T17:40:01.527

Try sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop (it will take a while). Oh, and make backups first. – gronostaj – 2019-08-17T17:50:15.337

@gronostaj you saved the day! – mLstudent33 – 2019-08-18T03:10:49.183

Answers

1

@gronostaj's solution in the comments worked.

I was in the external terminal accessed via Ctrl-Alt-F2 (heard f1 through f6 will work), then I cp -avr source destination where destination was a hard drive in my DVD player slot (have SSD in the HDD slot), then I entered sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop and got everything back except Chrome was gone and some of my favorite programs saved in the dock were gone.

So lesson learned, don't mess around with the system Python, use virtual envs extensively and install project specific python versions there to avoid this type of problem.

During this recovery process I made a Ubuntu USB just in case I need it later sometime. I had done so before but deleted it to save other files on it but this time plan on keeping this USB reserved as an emergency recovery disk.

mLstudent33

Posted 2019-08-17T11:05:01.550

Reputation: 130

1I highly recommend developing with Python in Docker containers. You get a totally isolated environment with the version of Python you wish and no need to deal with virtual envs. Plus you can use exactly identical Docker image for production, which is a great advantage too. – gronostaj – 2019-08-18T12:25:18.400

Asked: 2019-08-17T11:05:01.550

Viewed: 521 times

Active: 2019-08-18T03:40:29.080